kjp

Hey wow - a post just one week after the last. Anyhow.

So I've had a pretty busy week.

Monday night I had my Spanish exam. It went pretty well. I was a bit worried about the conversation component of it, but I did ok. It's pass/fail. If it was being graded, I'd be around a solid D, or so.

Tuesday night was QWAB rehearsal, which was good fun, although for a lot of it I was the only first (the 1st/Eb ist was away, and the other 1st was sick/coughing for a fair bit of the rehearsal). Eeek. But, with a bit of practice, I'm slowly getting better. Who would have thought?

Wednesday night was great. Went to a BBQ cooking course at the James St Cooking School. Was excellent: learnt a whole bunch of stuff, and cooked up three dishes (steak, salmon, duck skewers) that were very yummy. Over the next few weeks I'll be trying the out for myself.

Thursday night was hanging out with R. Meat pies, beer, Top Gear. Awesome.
Friday night was quiet.

Saturday - doing some jobs out and about. Hanging out with R in the evening and then with L and L's sisters. A game of celebrity head exposed my lack of depth of knowledge regarding English Kings and Queens. Now I know a little bit about Henry VIII. Six wives(!), amongst other things.

Today I've been doing up a packing list for my trip to South America, and starting to create a "to take" pile of things. At this point, to sort out, there's: a camera (to be bought in August to get a bit of tax back), some socks, a phrase book, a bunch of travel things to borrow (travel pillow, money neck pouch, etc), and money to sort out (need to by some greenbacks). One of my options I've been considering: Travellers Cash is apparently changing to something new, mid July. Sort out money is a job for August. Ohh, injections and first aid kit I also need to sort out.

In amongst my digging through boxes for bits of clothing, I've created a pile of clothing that I'll be getting rid of (giving to Vinnies or Salvos). All stuff that I haven't worn in Brisbane. When I was creating that pile I couldn't help think that I probably live in the past too much? Maybe, dunno. Not sure if that was just another random thought, or something deep that I haven't realised the significance of yet. Anyhow. But comparing my clothes from Canberra to now, it's kind of interesting how much I've grown since I was living back in Canberra. A good thing. Speaking of chucking out clothing, rumor has it that I had significant difficulty getting rid of a bunch of dad's clothing that stayed in a bag at the base of my bed for ages and ages. Hmmmm. Why did I write that? Anyhow. Maybe chucking stuff out is important because of the inference that you're moving forward. ?

Changing topics: housing prices:
I've been reading some stuff recently. haha; don't say it!. There's a few points I don't really get: if (a) renting is cash based - people don't go into debt to pay the rent: if the rent goes up / they loose their job, they move out. So, in a sustainable long term, rents will rise in line with household income. And: (b) In a sustainable long term, house prices (to purchase), can't increase at a faster rate (or presumably decline) relative to the rents, as the value (not price) of a house (or other asset) is related to it's ability to return earnings (or not pay rent in the case of housing). Then, if house prices (in particular) go up faster than incomes in the short term, but have to be level with incomes in the long term, then in the medium term they'll decline??

Very annoyingly, after reading a whole bunch of stuff that "we've just past the peak in housing boom, and things are on the way done", that I find a unit which looks really good. It's actually in the same building as I put in an offer in 2007, except next to the next door (this has a better location within the block), than the one I put an offer in for. (This is the place on the hill, not the place with the crack in the wall). I'm thinking that I will put an offer in for it, but be very careful...